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thanks Greg,
i know that the question is quite obvious, hovever i pose it why some giapanese (i don't remember who he was) told me that occidental people translate waza by technique while the right (he said) translation should be something like "form". If this would be true the optic of our practic could change a lot.
thanks in advance for your opinion.
andrea

Originally posted by andrea anzalone
thanks Greg,
i know that the question is quite obvious, hovever i pose it why some giapanese (i don't remember who he was) told me that occidental people translate waza by technique while the right (he said) translation should be something like "form". If this would be true the optic of our practic could change a lot.
thanks in advance for your opinion.
andrea

Translations are always less than perfect.

In many uses "technique" and "form" could be interchangeable. In some, not.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm a rather abstract kind of person. I'm not very interested in the word "technique" in the meaning of "this is the exact method for doing this thing".

I'm much more interested in the broader meaning that you might label "form".

"Kata" meaning "form" or "shape" might be the better Nihongo phrase for my personal take on matters.

Not that I'm any Japanese language expert. You'd be better off talking to Jun, Michael Hacker or Chris Li.

In many uses "technique" and "form" could be interchangeable. In some, not.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm a rather abstract kind of person. I'm not very interested in the word "technique" in the meaning of "this is the exact method for doing this thing".

I'm much more interested in the broader meaning that you might label "form".

"Kata" meaning "form" or "shape" might be the better Nihongo phrase for my personal take on matters.

Not that I'm any Japanese language expert. You'd be better off talking to Jun, Michael Hacker or Chris Li.

Best Regards,

Thanks Greg,
I agree with you "techniques" in the meaning of "this is the exact method for doing this thing" is not so important, but unforunately for several practicant to do "techniques" became the aim of our discipline.
Further i don't know Jun, Michael Hacker or Chris Li... so, now i'll wait for some precious help from them.
Best Regards
Andrea anzalone

As far as I can see, 'waza' does not have the meaning of 'form'. It is an action or movement having a certain form.

There are two Chinese characters for waza:
技, and 業. The first charcter can also be read as GI and has the general meaning of skill, art or technique. The second character can also be read as GYO or GO and has the general meaning of trade, industry, and then, more specifically, work, act, performance, or even trick.

In the 5th edition of the Kojien, published by Iwanami Shoten, Page 2870, there are 9 meanings listed for the word 'waza', the 9th meaning referring specifically to budo:

武"ｹ 相--oなどで、相手に仕掛ける一'閧ﾌ型の"ｮ作

Budo, sumo nado de, aite ni shikakeru ittei no kata no dosa.

In budo or sumo, an action / movement with a fixed form initiated with a partner.

The dictionary specifically states that the 技 character is used of budo and also of traditional Japanese arts, where it means 'way', 'method', 'technique', or 'skill'. For the other meanings the other 業 character is used.